PageAÔ___________________________ _ ____________________
M ovement for U S
PeaceDepartm ent
continued
from Front
The proposal is currently be­
fore the U.S. House of Represen­
tatives (HR 808) and would cre­
ate a government agency that
would be responsible for re­
searching, articulating and facili­
tating solutions for domestic and
international conflicts.
The local volunteers, includ­
ing people who specialize in con­
flict resolution, also see a Peace
Department as an avenue for
addresses ongoing issues like
overcrowded prisons, lack of
healthcare and poor education.
Peggy Mala decided to join the
movement through her frustra­
tion with the government's nega­
tive responses to social issues
and international conflicts. She
was complaining about the Iraq
war when her son said to her,
"Why don't you stop complain­
ing and do something about it?”
and so she did. She has been
volunteering for the campaign
since February.
"We cannot bomb every per­
son that we have conflict with or
that are building blocks for nego­
tiation.
Clare Cleveland volunteered
for the movement after attending
a local peace conference in Feb­
ruary. She believes that peace is
missing from our culture and
government.
"It really is upsetting to know
that war is glorified in our cul­
ture,” says Cleveland, "people
see peace as a weakness but
what a peaceful resolution is say­
ing is that we are above war and
fighting.”
One of the objectives of a U.S.
Department of Peace would be
to set an example for children to
p o sitiv e ly handle c o n flic ts
through negotiation techniques.
"Bullying, racism and eco­
nomic tension between kids cause
a lot of problems for our schools.
These kids are affected by fight­
ing at a young age and are filled
with so much anger. The De­
partment will teach kids how to
peacefully resolve theirconflicts,”
says Mala.
The Department of Peace could
help states like Oregon create
We cannot bomb every person that we
have conflict with or simply put them in
jail. There are peaceful ways to handle
situations and resolve them. This process
has proven to be successful.
- Peggy Mala
simply put them in jail. There are
peaceful ways to handle situa­
tions and resolve them. This pro­
cess has proven to be success­
ful. Countries like Canada apply
very sophisticated peaceful tech­
niques for resolving conflicts,”
says Mala.
On U.S. soil, the Peace De­
partment would develop policies
and allocate resources to reduce
the levels of crime, violence, child
abuse and other forms of societal
discord. Internationally, the de­
partment would assist the Presi­
dent and Congress on the most
sophisticated ideas and techniques
to resolve conflicts and create
peaceful solutions among nations.
“War is no, a way to move into
the future," says Mala, "our chil­
dren will be lefttocleaningupthe
mess.”
Conflict-resolution techniques
are especially skilled tools for
negotiation. Those who practice
conflict resolution use specific
criteria to analyze and resolve the
situation and encourage the
growth of the relationships be­
tween the negotiating parties.
The techniques include focus­
ing on openness, remembering
tha, all people wan, to be heard
and understanding that all hu­
mans have common basic needs
I
rehabilitation programs for prison
inmates.
"America has some of the high­
est number of people imprisoned
in the world. The Department of
Peace will focus on rehabilitating
inmates so that they don't come
out of prison worse than when
they went in,” says Cleveland.
Tom Hastings, a professor at
Portland State University and a
volunteer activist, believes that
people have to use negotiation as
an objective to find ways to re­
solve c o n flic ts and pro tect
people, even if the parties refuse
to like one another.
“C onflict R esolvers never
quit," says Hastings, “the chal­
lenges are enormous and the chil­
dren today are the first genera­
tion that will be exposed to these
new ideas of resolving conflict."
Like the wom en's, civil-rights
and environmental movements
before it, advocates for a Depart­
ment of Peace see that the time
has come for a new evolution to
prevent suffering by wars and
other conflicts.
The local advocates urge oth­
ers to speak out in favor of the
movement, to call or write your
local member of Congress, and
to jo in them by v isitin g
thepeacealliance.org.
© b s e r u e r ________________________________________ November 14, 2007
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